


pour ces bois obscurs maintenant endormis

by pinuspinea



Series: Swan Lake remixes [15]
Category: Swan Lake & Related Fandoms, Лебединое озеро - Чайковский | Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky
Genre: Childhood Sweethearts, Crushes, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Falling In Love, Father Figures, Father-Son Relationship, Growing Up, Happy Ending, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:15:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27723346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinuspinea/pseuds/pinuspinea
Summary: All Siegfried ever wanted was love and guidance, both of which ended up being used to deceive him. ¬-- Did Rothbart ever get too close to fulfilling that wish? Were there moments, where he'd rather see this boy grow and mould him into a king that'd be his father's polar opposite?– Samodiwa
Relationships: Odette/Von Rothbart (Lebedínoye Ózero | Swan Lake), Odile/Prints Siegfried | Prince Siegfried (Lebedínoye Ózero | Swan Lake), Prints Siegfried | Prince Siegfried (Lebedínoye Ózero | Swan Lake) & Von Rothbart, Siegfried & Von Rothbart
Series: Swan Lake remixes [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824241
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	pour ces bois obscurs maintenant endormis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Samodiwa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samodiwa/gifts).



> OK so I know I said it might take a while for me to find more inspiration, but this is all your fault, my dear commentators. You just keep writing me such nice comments that kick my imagination into overdrive, so really, you only have yourselves to blame.
> 
> Also this story is disgustingly sweet. I need to write some murder to cleanse my palate.

Siegfried is a quiet and shy child. At first, he does not seem to even want to spend time with his new tutor, but eventually, he relaxes a little as he notices that the feared count von Rothbart is not actually as evil as he has been told beforehand by some whispering gossipmongers in the palace.

No, the man is rather quiet, altogether. He visits the palace rarely and listens to Siegfried's worries with patience, and slowly, Siegfried starts to feel more and more comfortable with the man.

Then, everything changes one day when he appears to Siegfried's lesson with a small child in tow.

"My apologies, prince," Wolfgang says with a bow that makes the child in his arms rustle a little. The child looks curiously at Siegfried with its large and dark eyes. "I'm afraid I couldn't leave my daughter behind. She was very insistent on seeing the castle."

The girl is easily lowered onto the floor. She seems small compared to Siegfried, who looks at her curiously before giving the same attention to his tutor.

"What's her name?" he asks, suddenly shy. The girl is already whipping her head back and forth, trying to take in everything all at once. Wolfgang clicks his tongue and the girl turns her attention towards her father.

"Papa?" she asks in her toddling language. She somehow seems old and young at the same time. Siegfried has a hard time gauging how old she must be, but he guesses that she is probably a few years younger than he is.

"Why won't you introduce yourself?" Wolfgang says and flicks his eyes towards Siegfried. The girl turns around, takes the hem of her skirts, and curtseys as if she was a proper princess herself. Siegfried bows, a little uncomfortable.

"Odile von Rothbart," the girl says and then she openly stares at Siegfried.

"Siegfried," he only manages to answer. The girl's face brightens up and she takes his hand easily, already talking a mile a minute.

Wolfgang follows them with a small amused smile on his lip as Odile pulls the prince all around the palace and comments on how pretty everything in there is, and she never expects anything from him other than listening to her rapid speech.

It's the most wonderful afternoon Siegfried has ever had. He enjoys how the girl simply speaks her mind without any fear of sounding rude, and even when she is accidentally rude, she apologises with her eyes wide and sorry.

"It's a pretty castle, but I like the lake better," the girl says. "That's where mama lives."

"Oh?" Siegfried asks curiously, glancing at his tutor. Wolfgang shifts his weight onto the other foot and seems more intent on listening.

Siegfried has not thought about it before, but the man must have a wife. Otherwise people would be throwing their daughters at him the same way that they are thrown towards Siegfried, and the child is further proof of that matter. Odile nods enthusiastically and then her hands start to paint a picture while she speaks.

Odile tells of a lake that looks beautiful on moonlit nights, and she talks of a forest that is her playground, and she speaks about beautiful white swans that are her playmates, and she speaks about her mother who is usually too sick to be with them during the days.

"Odile," Wolfgang says eventually and the girl quietens immediately with a slightly frightened look towards her father. The man is glancing at the sky. "It's our time to make our leave."

Odile looks a little disappointed at that, but then she brightens up as an idea pops into her head.

"Can we visit again?" she asks with those wide eyes of hers aimed towards Wolfgang. "Please, papa?"

Wolfgang smiles, and Siegfried had never realised how his eyes kept their coolness even when he smiled before, but now they soften as they look at the little girl dressed in black.

"If Siegfried invites you again, we can visit," Wolfgang says.

Suddenly, that intense stare is aimed at the shy boy.

"We are friends, aren't we?" Odile asks with a bright smile.

"We are," Siegfried says and is surprised that he is not lying.

Odile hugs him and kisses his cheek before they leave, and Siegfried blushes at it. Almost as soon as Wolfgang and Odile are gone, his mother sweeps in.

"I'm glad you have found a new playmate, Siegfried," his mother says and looks at him with a smile.

Siegfried smiles happily and tells his mother all about the things they did that day.

* * *

Wolfgang does not bring his daughter uninvited to the court again, but eventually, Siegfried manages to gather enough bravery to ask the man about his daughter again.

"How is Odile?" he fumbles out. Wolfgang hums thoughtfully.

"Much as she always is," he answers diplomatically. "Young, cheerful, always up to something."

He says it with enough softness in his eyes that Siegfried knows it is no genuine list of faults. No, the man seems to like that his daughter is not like most daughters of noblemen that are in the court. Those girls Siegfried doesn't like. They have been told to be quiet, and their staring always feel too intense, and they speak to him with honorifics that Wolfgang's daughter does not use.

Siegfried nods and takes in a breath. Wolfgang is already studying him with those intense eyes of his.

"Would you like for me to bring her here again?" Wolfgang asks. Siegfried nods in relief. It's much easier to simply agree to another day spent with the girl instead of suggesting it himself.

It's not too long after that when Wolfgang arrives at the palace, but this time he has a smaller dark shadow at his side who runs across the yard and gives Siegfried a hug with laughter twinkling all around them even though many of the nobles stare at what is happening in disbelief. Siegfried finds himself smiling at the sight of her.

She's already babbling about how she has been studying and what she has been doing at the lake, and without even noticing it, Siegfried's shoulders come down from his ears and his face loses that much too stiff quality.

Wolfgang walks lazily behind them as they play in the gardens and in the castle, and Siegfried introduces the girl to his other friends, those rare few children that are not too stiff with him. Odile takes the role of the leader of the group as if it was made for her. The other children seem a little surprised by that, but soon enough, they are all wreaking chaos and making marry and laughing so hard that their stomachs hurt.

Siegfried is happier than he remembers ever being, and Odile looks so delighted to be in their midst.

Eventually, the day turns towards evening, and as much as Odile begs her father for just a little more time to spend at the palace, he remains firm.

"What would your mother think," he asks with a sigh, "if I did not return you home in time for her to hug you and tell you a bedtime story?"

Odile frowns, and then she looks at Siegfried.

"You could come visit us," she states. Wolfgang tenses up immediately, Siegfried notices that much, but Odile doesn't seem to even realise how her comment has made her father seem so tense. Odile looks at Wolfgang with her wide eyes and she looks so miserable at the thought that Siegfried would never see their home, and Wolfgang looks back warily.

"You know your mother needs her peace and quiet," Wolfgang reminds his daughter. Suddenly, all that happiness that resided in Odile just leaks out. She deflates and looks at her shoes, and Siegfried wishes he could make her feel happy again.

"I can be quiet," he says, his eyes darting between father and daughter.

Wolfgang still looks a little hesitant. Odile turns her eyes at him. They are already big and full of begging. Siegfried wonders how long that will last. Eventually, Wolfgang will become immune to Odile's begging.

That day is not today. This time, Odile gets what she wants.

"Only Siegfried may come, and no one else," Wolfgang declares and looks at his daughter seriously. "And you most promise that you will not bother your mother."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Odile says with surprising solemnity for someone so young.

* * *

Siegfried's visit to the von Rothbart's forest is arranged languidly enough. It is summer, and most of the court is enjoying their free time in their own country estates, in any case. His mother seems grateful to have one less thing to worry about.

The visit will last a whole two weeks, and Siegfried has promised to behave as well as he can. He has sworn solemnly to his mother that he will not bother his tutor's wife and that he will behave himself, and he has also made those same promises to his tutor.

Eventually, the day comes when Siegfried accepts a kiss on his cheek given by his mother, and then he is sent away from the palace in a lonely carriage ride. Not even servants will be staying with him at the von Rothbarts' house. No, the man insisted that it would not do to have other people traipsing around, possibly bothering his dear Odette.

Siegfried wonders if he'll ever get to meet Odile's mother and what she will be like. He imagines a woman with a kind smile and softness in her that makes his husband become all protective of her. He imagines beautiful dresses and loving smiles, and he imagines a gentleness that must be so different yet similar to what his own mother has.

The carriage enters the woods, and then they pass a village, and even then, the trip continues. Finally, the horses stop their running and Siegfried steps out, and he looks at the tall and dark house in the middle of the woods and all those hundreds of flowers that grow in its gardens.

Everything about that house makes him think about a fairy tale. The house stands hidden from the world in a nook of the world, so far away from everything, and Siegfried can feel stress sliding off his shoulders as water droplets slide off the backs of ducks.

"Siegfried!" he hears an excited shriek, and he barely has time to prepare for the hug Odile has ran to give him. The girl is laughing again, and she looks at Siegfried with a wide grin.

"Welcome to our nook of the woods," she tells him and already pulls him towards the lake.

"Don't bother the swans!" Siegfried hears a shout behind them. Odile simply waves her father off with a quick gesture, not stopping her excited babble for even a second. Siegfried allows himself to be pulled to the lake, and the sight of it draws away his breath.

The water gleams gently in the sunshine, and there are numerous swans all around them. They sleep in the reeds, some swim on the waters, some have even settled on the shores. Odile is already taking off her shoes and wading into the water with nary a worry in her mind, but Siegfried freezes.

"What's wrong?" she asks, her hands instinctively playing with the water. Siegfried swallows thickly.

"I can't swim," he says. Odile looks surprised.

"I can teach you," she says. "Take off your shoes. You don't want them to get wet."

Siegfried hesitates for a moment, but Odile is already waist-deep in the water, and she falls backwards with a peal of laughter. The wave laps the shore. Siegfried slowly takes off his shoes and the coat he has on, standing there with his simple trousers and his shirt on, his gangly legs pale in the summer sun. Odile seems delighted even with her dress pulling her down.

Siegfried slowly steps in the water and Odile comes back to him, splashing him.

He doesn't notice it in the throes of their water battle, but she looks completely natural in the water. Eventually, their time in the water ends, and they climb onto the shore and lie in the sunshine.

"How come there are so many swans here?" Siegfried asks curiously and turns to his side so that he can see Odile a little better. The girl has a satisfied smile on her lips, and as if on cue, her eyes strain towards the large white birds. They still seem peaceful, but Siegfried could almost swear that they are closer now than they were before, as if they were keeping an eye on him and Odile.

They probably just want to defend their lake, Siegfried thinks.

"Papa's always liked swans," Odile says calmly enough. "It would be a shame if this was a lake with just one swan, now wouldn't it?"

Siegfried frowns and wonders why exactly there would be just that one swan if the rest of the flock disappeared, and then he sees something he does not understand. One of the swans enters the open waters from the reeds, and she floats like a queen on the waves. The sight of it takes Siegfried's breath away.

He has never seen anything remotely as beautiful as that swan, and the sight of it makes him feel like he has been honoured.

Odile looks at the same swan.

"The queen would be lonely without her flock," Odile says solemnly. "That's why papa brings her more company when she needs it."

Siegfried thinks that he understands.

* * *

Dinner is set just before the sun goes down, and they are all seated at the table with one plate left empty, once place without its occupant.

"Will mama join us today?" Odile asks her father curiously. For some reason, Siegfried's tutor glances out of the patio doors with a thoughtful look upon his face.

"Perhaps she will," he states.

The food is delicious, but Siegfried feels too nervous to truly eat. He keeps listening to the house, worried when servants will come bustling in. Wolfgang eats quietly and cleanly, and Odile does not seem to notice anything strange in that dinner.

Siegfried nearly has a heart attack when a pale woman appears at the patio doors and then slips in easily. Wolfgang raises his gaze and smiles softly to the woman, and she takes the last place.

The woman, Odette, looks much like her daughter, but there is something nerve-wracking in the way she looks at Siegfried. Her face and eyes are pale, and with a jolt Siegfried realises that her dress is almost completely torn, her arms and feet are bare, and hair is escaping the updo that rests on her neck as if it had been twisted there a long time ago.

But Odette is dressed in the finest jewels Siegfried has ever seen in his life, and she looks at him like she has never been sick. The intensity of her gaze makes him even more nervous.

"Who is he?" Odette finally turns her intense gaze towards Wolfgang who does not seem to be at all bothered by it. Siegfried is a little shocked by how easily Wolfgang sits in her attention, but then again, they must have known each other for ages, for never has Siegfried even heard of talk about a time when Wolfgang was not completely devoted to this woman.

"Siegfried, the king's son," Wolfgang answers. Odile drops her fork with a loud clatter. Odette's pale gaze turns towards Siegfried, and then it glances at her daughter. It's difficult to say what kinds of thoughts pass behind those eyes. They seem too withdrawn from this world to care about such matters while all the same devouring each passing second with a passion that is frightening.

"Did you know that your father died here, Siegfried?" Odette asks him quietly.

Siegfried looks at his plate, hunger suddenly all gone. Wolfgang lowers a hand over Odette's, and their eyes meet. They talk with gazes. Odette bends her neck a little, and it reminds Siegfried of the swans that watched him and Odile playing in the water earlier today.

"I didn't," Siegfried manages to say.

"You didn't say he was a prince," Odile says with her eyes narrowed at her father. He raises an eyebrow at his daughter.

"And would you have treated him differently, if you knew he was a prince?" he challenges. Odile thinks about it for a moment.

"I see," she murmurs.

They both seem to have completely ignored the way Odette shook Siegfried's world.

This is the lake where his father died on that hunting trip? This is where the bodies were found, torn apart and fed upon by forest animals?

Siegfried cannot help but shiver. He wonders why Wolfgang would never say something nearly as important than that his father died here, but then he realises how the man is looking intently at the table. He hasn't wanted to. Wolfgang has probably wanted to keep quiet about it, has probably wanted to forget about it happening so near to his home.

It cannot have happened much before Odile was born. It must have come to the married couple as a shock. It must have been horrible to have so much happiness in their lives when everyone else was mourning the king.

The rest of the meal is almost completely wasted. No one has much appetite anymore, and Siegfried barely manages to pick some of the tastier parts of the meal from his plate before he makes his excuses and disappears into the bedroom that has been given for him.

He doesn't get to be alone for long when there is a knock on his door, and then Odile slips inside without even waiting for permission.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about it like that," Odile says silently and sits down on his bed, kicking her feet. She keeps looking at her lap as if there was nothing better to look at, and Siegfried has some trouble trying to think about something to say himself.

They end up sitting quietly for a moment.

"Did your father keep it as a secret from you as well?" Siegfried asks in a small voice. Odile shakes her head.

"I knew about the death," Odile says. "I'm not sure about what exactly happened, but I knew that the king's hunting party perished not far from our house."

Odile looks thoughtful for a long moment. Siegfried bites his lip.

"Do you know where they found the body?" he asks from Odile. She looks up in surprise. "I would like to see the place."

Odile is quiet, but then she does stand up and walks to the hallway door. She peeks out, and when she doesn't spy anyone in the corridor, she easily tells him to follow her with the flick of her wrist, and then they head outside into the cool night.

The moon is half full and the clouds are making the night darker than it should be. Siegfried shivers as he spies the silvery surface of the lake, and together, they head towards it. All around them are swans, feathers that glow pale white in the moonlight, and he wonders if they all are as beautiful as the one which they saw swimming on the lake earlier that day.

He does not think that could ever be possible. There can only be one queen, after all, and Odile called that bird the swan queen.

Odile pulls him over to the shadows of the forest, and they stand on the shore of the lake. Odile gazes up towards the sky above the lake, and she looks strangely like her mother in this light of moon. The darkness disappears from her features, and for a moment Siegfried is looking at the smaller and younger mirror image of Odette.

The illusion fades as Odile whispers.

"I think it must have been here."

Siegfried shivers as he looks at that nook in the forest. There is nothing to tell that there is something special in that place, nothing to mark it apart, yet this is where his father's body was found once upon a time, torn apart like everyone in the hunting party.

"And your parents heard nothing?" Siegfried asks, desperate to understand what happened. He wishes he had some explanation, some reason. It cannot have been just an animal attack, now could it? They were all experienced hunters, and they had their crossbows and swords and pikes. They were supposed to be safe, yet still every single one of them was found torn apart, ripped into shreds.

"They have not spoken about it at all," Odile says softly. "I don't think they want to remember something like that happening."

Siegfried feels dizzy enough to leave the matter alone. Instead of arguing for more information, he follows Odile back towards the house. She does not seem at all afraid of the darkness, instead walking in the shadowy gardens and yard as if she was used to it.

Siegfried stops as he spies something in the shadows, and Odile looks back at him with a question in her eyes, but soon enough, her eyes glance towards the same direction. She lets out a small voice out of her mouth.

"They do that," she says quietly. "They like to walk the shores together."

It's hard to understand the softness of his tutor when Siegfried is so used to seeing a man who is always composed, always prim, always proper. The sight in front of his eyes shows him a man who is gently conversing with a woman who seems to be walking wherever she wants to, and his tutor is following her blindly.

They walk so near to each other, and there is nothing frail or sickly in Odette. Siegfried quickly averts his eyes even though he does not quite understand why, but he feels slightly ashamed of something.

Inside, Odile tells him goodnight, and he answers her in a small voice and returns to his room.

Hiding behind the curtains, he can still see Wolfgang and Odette walking endless loops around the lake, and he wonders why they do that.

* * *

His time at the house of his tutor is rather strange. Odile seems content enough to live there, happy with just her father and mother for companion, but Siegfried notices things that do not let him rest for even a single moment.

There are no servants. There is not a single soul other than them in the house, yet the house is spotless as if there was an entire army of servants always making sure that everything was in its right place, that nothing was even the tiniest bit smudged. Siegfried wonders how it can be.

The other strange thing he notices is how Wolfgang acts. During the days, he seems too entranced in his own thoughts to notice much, but once the sun sets, he comes to alive. Oh, he does spend time with Siegfried and Odile, but there is always a distracted look in his eyes as if he was constantly ready to leave them at a moment's notice.

The third strange thing Siegfried only notices towards the end of his visit. He notices that Odette, Odile's mother, is never seen during the day.

"What is your mother sick with?" Siegfried asks Odile one day when they are in the garden. Odile looks up from where she has been weaving flowers into a crown, and she hums absentmindedly. Siegfried already knows the signs of her distraction, and he repeats the question so that he even has a chance of gaining an answer to it.

Odile, instead of answering, looks back at her flower crown.

"A broken heart, I think," Odile says. Siegfried frowns.

"I've never heard of someone having a broken heart, not in the literal sense," he murmurs. Odile hums again and continues weaving her flower crown as if nothing was the matter.

"She's always been ill, so why should I care what she is sick with?" Odile asks. Siegfried's frown simply deepens.

"I'd think you'd like to know, because everyone I've ever heard talk about your mother says that she is dying."

Odile freezes onto place, and she gets up angrily enough.

"She is not dying," Odile spits back and stomps into the house.

Siegfried sits in the garden miserably and wonders how he has again ruined everything, and he stares at the flower crown Odile was working on, and he wonders if anyone will now continue with it.

Eventually, his moody thoughts are interrupted by the emergence of his tutor from the house. Wolfgang walks easily in his direction, and he sits down onto a stone bench, eyes glued onto the lake.

"You've managed to upset Odile quite badly," Wolfgang notes calmly. Siegfried shivers a little and he fidgets, but he does not find the words.

Eventually, Wolfgang taps the stone bench next to him. Siegfried gets up slowly, and with great hesitation, he sits down next to Wolfgang. The man is still staring at the lake that bathes in sunshine, the lake that seems to dominate everything in that nook of the woods.

"Odette is not sick in a conventional manner," Wolfgang says eventually. "You've noticed something, haven't you?"

Siegfried wonders whether it is smart to say something, but eventually, his curiosity gets the best of him.

"She's never to be seen during the days," Siegfried mumbles. Wolfgang hums. His eyes seem so distant. The man must be so in love with his wife, so in love with the pale woman who is strange and quiet and speaks in words that hint at riddles Siegfried does not understand, and Siegfried would like to understand so much more, but he feels like he is missing something very important.

"Odette is... not sick, not as most would think," Wolfgang states eventually. Siegfried looks up in confusion. "There is a spell that keeps her as a swan if the moon does not graze her skin."

Siegfried's jaw unhinges. He stares at his tutor, and then he stares at the lake.

He thinks about that swan queen, the pale beauty he admired in the sun, and then he thinks about the way Odile spoke of her father guarding the swans with a jealousy Siegfried could not understand back then, but now he sees, now he understands just why Wolfgang is so entranced by the lake.

"She's the swan queen," Siegfried manages to say. Wolfgang nods.

"She is," he admits, and Siegfried feels like the world is tilting on its axel.

* * *

Siegfried returns to the castle, and he tells no one of what happened at the house of his tutor. He does not speak about the swan queen, simply referring to the woman as Odile's mother and saying that she was mostly absent.

It's the nearest thing to a lie that he has ever said out loud, and it feels so strange to lie to everyone when all these years he has been so honest, when all these years he has been the one to never say a mistrustful word in the court, and now he has been let into a humongous secret that could ruin his tutor.

Wolfgang arrives to the palace like clockwork, and Siegfried frets, but he never says anything, not within these walls. It feels wrong to speak about Odile's mother when they are not in the forest. It feels wrong to even think about such things as magic when it cannot be so easily observed.

"How is Odile?" Siegfried asks anxiously. Wolfgang smiles a little.

"She's already forgiven you and misses you dearly," Wolfgang says, and that is enough to let Siegfried breathe freely again.

* * *

Years pass, and when Siegfried grows older, he visits the lake and its residents more often. Finally there is a visit when he and Odile are sitting in the garden, and they do not even notice the sun setting, but they do notice the dark figure that walks to the shore and greets the swan that turns into a woman the moment sun has set.

Siegfried babbles horribly after that, but Odile has known about those transformations her whole life and is not nearly as shaken as Siegfried is. She must have witnessed her mother transforming so many times that she has lost count.

They grow older. They are no longer children, no, not anymore. Siegfried is starting to be a young man, but Odile is still at the brink of childhood and adulthood, though she is in no way in a hurry to cross over the border.

"They talk about a ball for my birthday," Siegfried mutters. Odile hums thoughtfully as she plucks flowers and puts them into her hair.

"I wonder if papa will allow me to come," she says a little wistfully.

Siegfried can feel his stomach churning.

"Everyone expects me to pick a bride there," he says and then closes his mouth abruptly.

Odile looks at him curiously and weaves another flower into her hair.

"You can always state that you will marry some day later," she says as if it was not a problem. Siegfried sighs and he pushes his hair out of his face.

"They want me to have an heir as soon as possible," he murmurs with a slight blush to his cheeks.

Odile does not say anything to that. She simply plucks more flowers, and then, she surprises him and slides one of those flowers into his breast pocket. He holds completely still as she manages the small task, and then she smiles brightly as if she hadn't just taken Siegfried's breath away.

"I'm sure you'll find someone who'll make you happy," she says.

Siegfried swallows thickly and tries not to show his nerves as he guides the conversation onto safer waters.

* * *

It takes a few weeks for Siegfried to gather enough courage to even think about the ball, and already his hands are sweaty with nerves. Wolfgang, who by now knows him well enough to realise when his thoughts are pulling him onto such dangerous roads, hums thoughtfully. Siegfried swallows.

"I'm worried about the ball," he murmurs. Wolfgang's head turns a little.

"That you won't find anyone to dance with?" Wolfgang asks easily.

Siegfried hesitates for a long moment before he eventually shakes his head. Wolfgang looks a little curious.

"I already know who I want to dance with," Siegfried says slowly. Wolfgang raises an eyebrow.

"We have talked about this before, Siegfried," he states as if he had never known such nerves himself. "If you have found someone you'd like to dance with, you should ask her to the ball with you."

Siegfried stares at his own toes. He wonders how he could tell the man he has grown to think of as his surrogate father that he would take his daughter into the ball with him, were that allowed.

Wolfgang remains quiet, waiting for him to speak. Even now, even so close to being an adult in everyone's eyes and getting crowned as the king, Siegfried still hesitates. He does not feel like he is ready. He does not feel like he is worthy of becoming a king if he cannot even ask this man for permission to have his daughter as a companion at the ball.

Eventually, they come to a crossing of paths in the garden, and then they stand still for a long moment.

"I would like to ask Odile to the ball with me," Siegfried manages to force out.

Wolfgang does not say anything. He is simply watching Siegfried with those dark eyes of his, and there is no telling what the man could be thinking about. For all Siegfried knows, Wolfgang could be planning to push Siegfried off a great height. It would not be too out of character for him, after all, as he loves his wife and daughter so dearly.

"Do you think Odile would like to go to the ball with you?" Wolfgang asks, and his voice is surprisingly even and calm, but still no emotion shines through. Siegfried swallows thickly.

"I know she would like to come to the ball," Siegfried says and fidgets, "but I don't know if she would like to come there with me."

Wolfgang lets out a hum and picks a path at random. They start walking again through those palace gardens, and Siegfried wonders what the man will decide to do.

"You'll just have to ask her yourself, then," Wolfgang says, and Siegfried knows that is as close to a blessing he is ever likely to get out of Wolfgang. Siegfried nods in relief, and Wolfgang nods back at him, and they continue their walk talking about politics and whatever else that is far less dangerous than talks of Wolfgang's daughter.

* * *

If it was difficult to ask permission from Wolfgang, it feels almost impossible to ask the question from Odile. The ball preparations throw the palace into chaos, and Siegfried is constantly pulled into one place or another, and he so rarely even sees Odile anymore even though he would like to spend as much time as possible with the girl.

There are bakers and cooks who want him to sample their menus for the dinner, and there are servants who ask from him his preferences for the settings and decorations, and there are his friends who wish to gossip about who is going to the ball with who, but throughout it all, Odile is missing.

It is by happenstance that Siegfried even sees her. She is at the village, perusing the markets and enjoying the company of some other young women, and Siegfried takes in a few calming breaths before heading their way.

"Odile," he says with a smile. She looks back at him with a large smile of her own.

"Siegfried!" she says in delight. "Papa has given me permission to come to the ball!"

Her eyes are bright and full of joy as she says that, and then she shows him the fabrics she has been perusing. Siegfried listens to her musings about the ball dress, and all he can think about is how soft and wonderful Odile looks.

He's not sure if he can remember a single word that comes from those pink lips of hers, that intently he stares at them and thinks about what it would feel like to kiss the girl he has known for such a long time.

"It will be odd to see you wear something else than black," Siegfried says as he looks at the ruby red silk Odile has purchased. The girl hums thoughtfully.

"I know," she says. "It's even stranger to me. I've never worn anything else than black and white."

Siegfried nods. Odile's friends have already passed on a little, and they are in as much privacy as they'll ever get in this shop.

Siegfried's heart pounds and his palms sweat, and he nervously licks his lips.

"Would you dance with me?" he asks. "At the ball?"

Odile laughs gently.

"I'll dance with you," she says with that bright smile of hers. "You are my friend."

Siegfried's stomach twists as her friends call her over, and he never gets a confirmation as the whether she understood what he was trying to say.

* * *

The day of the ball seems to arrive far too soon. Siegfried wants to throw up when he thinks about the evening, and the entrance of their foreign quests, and when he realises how everyone will be staring at him. He wishes he could just find some strength in himself, but there is nothing to calm down his nerves, not right now.

He dresses himself into that beautifully decorated uniform of his, and slowly, he picks up the small, red flower he found in the gardens that is the same colour as Odile's dress. He pierces his lapel with it, and then he straightens his back and looks himself in the eyes.

"You've seen stranger things," he murmurs. "It's just one night."

He doesn't dare even think about how important that night will be.

Downstairs, guests are already streaming into the castle. Siegfried looks at their arrival from his hidden little balcony, and he sees when the von Rothbarts arrive: Wolfgang in his dark coat, Odile in her beautiful red dress, and, he realises with a gasp, Odette in her customary white.

The locals stare at the von Rothbarts in open shock. Odette has never been seen outside of the forest, and now, she stands among them, strange and eerie and pale as always, but this time her dress is not torn at the hem, this time her feet aren't bare, this time her hair is not escaping its confines. She looks like a strange beauty, but a human beauty.

Siegfried gathers his nerves and waits for the time when he is supposed to enter the ballroom, and he does so with the trumpets announcing it to everyone.

The ballroom is packed, and everyone wants to congratulate him. Nobles are throwing their daughters at Siegfried, but he shies away from their tittering laughter and seductive smiles.

Odile appears in her red dress, and she looks lovely. Siegfried swallows thickly.

"Red suits you," he says. Odile smiles brightly.

"Thank you, your highness," she says, and curtseys more prettily than any princess Siegfried has ever seen.

The musicians are tuning their instruments. Siegfried knows that he must ask Odile now, or he'll never get the chance again.

"Will you dance with me?" he asks, and Odile looks at him with those dark eyes of hers that are so full of hidden thoughts.

She gives him her hand, and slowly they move over to the dancefloor, and when the first dance starts, they are already twirling freely as if they were dancers in a music box.

Odile looks so beautiful with her gold jewellery and those rubies highlighting her pale skin and dark hair, and that dress makes everyone notice her. Siegfried looks at her as if he would be completely lost without her in his arms, and they dance and twirl and sway to the waltz.

Odile closes her eyes and looks happy.

Their hands do not slip away. He does not ask her for another dance, he does not dare to, but she does not leave.

Her hand remains in his, and they dance through the night, eyes reserved only for one another.


End file.
